Auxiliary cooling system for refrigerator cars



H. GIDDINGS Dec. 5, 1933.

1 AUXILIARY COOLING SYSTEM FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed July 26. 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 5, 1933. G|DD|NGS I 1,937,649

AUXILIARY COOLING SYSTEM FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed July 26, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR, MM 1; 5

Fwuifo 1 ATTORNEYS.

Dec. 5, 1933.

H. GIDDINGS AUXILIARY COOLING SYSTEM FOR REFRIGERATOR CARS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 26 1932 000 00000 0000 00000 0000 0 0 0 0 0 OOOO INVENTOR,

BY p

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 5, 1933 I OFFICE PATENT AUXILIARY COOLING SYSTEM FOR RE- FRIGERATOR CARS Horace Giddings, San Francisco, Calif.

Application July 26, 1932. Serial No. 624,735

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to refrigerator ,cars, and more particularly to auxiliary means for increasing the'cooling effect of the ice.

The principal object of the invention is to increase the efllciency of a refrigerator car, and to lower the temperature of itscargo compartment, by. utilizing the water resulting from the melting ice before it is drained out of the car. For this purpose said water, which. may be a brine i f salt is used in addition to the ice, is run through pipes positioned beneath the cargo floor. The initial temperature of the water or brine is considerably lower than that of the cargo compartment, and in its passage through the pipes beneath the cargo floor, it absorbs. some heat from said cargo compartment, thereby reducing the temperature of the cargo therein. 1 In other words, I make use of the available residual cooling power of the chilled water or brine before 20 dumping it out, thereby making the car more effective and efficient, and saving ice. Other objects'and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification, which should be read with the understanding that the form, construction and arrangement of the several parts herein shown and described may be varied, without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a sectional plan, broken, of a refrigerator car of standard construction to which is applied a preferred embodiment ofmy invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of one ice compartment and the end of the adjacent cargo compartment.

Fig. 3 isa broken transverse Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, showing the cargo floor and the auxiliary cooling pipes beneath it.

In the drawings, the reference numerals 5, 6,

'7 and 8 designate respectively the floor, roof, sides and ends of a refrigerator car of standard construction. 9 is the usual ceiling beneath the roof 6; 10 are he ice compartments or tanks at the ends of the car; 11 is the cargo compartment; and 12 are the bulkheads separating the ice tanks from the cargo compartment. 13, Figs. 2 and 3, is one of the hatches through which ice is lowered into the ice tank 10. Grates 14 are provided in the lower portions of the ice tanks, upon which the ice rests. So much is standard construction inrefrigerator cars.

Reference should be had to the accompanying section of the 'In the central portion of each ice tank, beneath the grate 14, I provide a brine or water tank 15, which has tight bottom and sides and a screened top preferably formed of a perforated metal plate 16 overlaid by a wire screen 1'7. A drip pan or 60, apron 18 extends from the top edges of said tank" to the sidesof'the ice tank, and slopes downwardchannels and the walls of the ice tank, as shown in Fig. 2. The inner edges of said apron preferably overlap the sides of the brine tank, said sides being bentoutwardly at-their upper edges, as shown at 20, to receive and support said apron. The perforated coverof said brine tank preferably rests upon and is bolted to said apron, as shown. The brine tank is supported by suitable feet 21 resting upon the floor 22 of the ice tank, and is provided with interior bafiles 23 to prevent splashing of the'water within it. The floor 22. is so preferably a water-tight pan, and is provided with .the usual drain 24 to prevent any water which might leak through or around the apron 18 from finding its way into the cargo compartment or from soaking into the floor thereof. The 5 baflies 23 arepreferably formed as intersecting verticalplates, perforated and spaced from both bottom and top of the brine tank.

The cargo compartment 11 is provided with a false floor 25, preferably formed of spaced slats, and spaced a few inches above the main floor 5 by stringers 26. A pipe 2'! leads out of the brine tank 15, and is carried beneath the bulkhead 12 and thence in a tortuous path beneath the false floor 25', finally terminating in an outlet 28'ex- 9 tending through the floor of the car. The several coils or runs of the pipe 27 are supported by clamps 29 upon brackets 30, Fig. 4, of graduated height, so that said pipe has a continuous downward slope to'promote'. drainage, and the bends are of long radius to avoid restricting the flow.'

A shut-01f valve 31, Fig. 2, is included in the pipe where it leaves the brine tank, and a Y-fltting 32. with a removable plug is provided to permit the pipe to be cleaned.

The apron 18 has apertures 33 at the ends of the brinetank to ventilate the space'beneath, and also to permit access to said space for cleaning. Any drip which falls through said apertures is caught by,the floor pan 22 and runs out through its drain 24;

In the particular embodiment of the invention herein illustrated, each brine tank 15 supplies pipe 27 beneath one longitu-..

ular shape and position of the brine tanks 15 and 1 aprons 18 are immaterial, so long as suitable means are provided for collecting the drip from the melting ice and directing it into the cooling pipes 27. r v

Each of the brackets 30 supporting the pipe 27 is preferably formed asfa continuous strip of metal extendingacross the'car and having alternating depressed'and elevated portions, as shown in Fig. 4, the depressed portions resting upon the main floor 5 beneath thestringers, 26 of the false fioor, and the elevated portions, upon which rest the several runs of the pipe 27, being of successively decreasing height from. the, center outwardly, to provide the desired continuous downward slope for said pipe.

I claimz- 1. In a refrigerator car having an ice tank and a cargo compartment, a receptacle in the-lower portion of said ice tank; an apron surrounding said receptacle and sloping toward it for collecting the water from the melting ice in said tank and draining it into said receptacle; a cover for said receptacle consisting of a perforated metal plate and a superposed wire mesh screen, and a compartment;

discharge pipe leading from said receptacle through the lower, portion of said cargo compartment. 1

2. In a refrigerator car having a cargo compartment and an ice tank, an ice supporting grate.

in said tank sloping downwardly away-from said cargo compartment; a receptacle, beneathsaid I grate; an apron surrounding said receptacleand sloping toward it for collecting the 'water "from v theinelting ice and draining it intosaidreceptacle;- a water-tight pan forming the bottom of the ice tank beneath'said receptaoleisaidpan having a drain; l with said receptacle for conducting thewwater therefrom through the lower portion of thecargo 3. ma refrigerator car cargo compartment spaced from themain floor water from the'melting'ice therein; a,,'pipe leadand forth in the space below said false' floor in a and a system of pipes f'c'onhect'ed" having aeargo compartment and an'iee tank, a false fioort', in said ing out from said receptacle and extendingback series of spaced runs, said pipe having an outlet outside the car; and means for supporting said pipe comprising a bracket\ car, said bracket having alternating depressed,

and elevated portions, ,said depressed portions resting upon the main floor beneath the string-x;

ers of the false floor, and said elevated portions supporting said pipe and being of successively decreasing height whereby said pipe is provided with a continuous downward slope from said re-' ceptacle to its outlet. n

HORACE GlDDlNGS.

tending across the 

